Volunteers needed for Arboles playground project

By Alyssa RossSpecial to The SUN

More than 200 volunteers are needed to help The Colorado Health Foundation and the Tiffany Allison Rosa Arboles Historical Society, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the Arboles community on Saturday, Oct. 12, to build a new playground at the TARA Community Center.

Today’s kids spend less time playing outside than any previous generation in part because only one in five children live within walking distance of a park or playground. This play deficit is having profound consequences for kids physically, socially and cognitively. Children need a place to play every day in order to be active and healthy, something KaBOOM! has been committed to since 1996.

The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in August. It will provide more than 80 children in the Arboles community with a safe place to play. Currently, the children do not have a playground. For years, TARA has been saving money for a playground and this partnership with the Colorado Health Foundation and KaBOOM! will help this project come to fruition. Since then the parents and friends in the area have been working to make our playground a reality.

This playground is one of the many exciting efforts in Arboles to make active living part of everyone’s day.

The build day and site Saturday, Oct. 12, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at the TARA Community Center, 333 Milton Lane, Arboles.

TARA was formed in 1992 with the purpose to preserve and promote the culture and history of the unique, multi-ethnic community. In 2012, TARA opened a community building at 333 Milton Lane, complete with a full kitchen, meeting/dining room, handicap bathrooms and parking. There is also a pavilion and a basketball court on the site.

The Colorado Health Foundation works to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation by increasing the number of Coloradans with health insurance, ensuring they have access to quality, coordinated care and encouraging healthy living. The Foundation invests in the community through grants and initiatives to health-related nonprofits that focus on these goals, as well as operating medical education programs to increase the health care workforce. For more information, please visit www.ColoradoHealth.org.

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving kids the childhood they deserve by bringing play to those who need it most. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has mapped over 90,000 places to play, built more than 2,300 playgrounds, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level.